[TC Chris]

I've got the innards from a 1951 Philco, the one that sat outside all winter under a snowbank until I found it in the spring outside the building next door to my office.  It's not high-end (10" speaker, SE amp) but the electronics and changer were pretty well preserved by the cabinet as it gradually came unglued.  So I took a chance and plugged it in.  Yup, sound, but weak, and that filter cap can started getting warm, so I know what it needs.  Then summer came and I got distracted by summer things. 

But last spring I cut the filter cap can off and pulled the insides out, ready for restuffing.  Bought the caps.  Waited for fall.  Fall arrived, but wouldn't you know, the can top that I cut off has gone AWOL.   I've looked everywhere in the shop, behind & under everything. @#&*%$!!!!   I think I'll find some plastic pipe in the same ID and use that as a temporary form.

But tonight I was out in the shop, varnishing a mahogany table top from the sailboat, and I moved the dustpan to its spot under the table saw, and... oops, the Philco speaker is there.  I poked a small hole in the cone.  Quite small, but still.  I hate doing dumb things.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I don't have any spare Philco capacitor cans here, or I'd send you one to saw in half to fix yours.  A little hole can be fixed with service cement if only a tear, or you can make a patch with a coffee filter then paint it black after you get it glued in.  But you probably knew that already.  No good deed goes unpunished, it seems.  Good luck.   

[TC Chris]

Thanks for the coffee filter paper suggestion--I did not know that one.  There's only a very tiny bit of paper missing.  On fact, it wasn't missing until I tried to poke it back into position and it flaked off.  I carefully set it aside and then discovered that it had gone AWOL too.

I've got a bunch of old capacitor cans but will make do with a little foil-covered mailing tube that I found.  It's the right diameter and will do until the original shows up.  It will, probably shortly after I give up and substitute one with the wrong markings. 

I just got a winter storm warning via e-mail.  When you get old, the sheriff's department adds you to a warning system.  Seems odd--most old people stick close to home and it's the young ones that need to be told to stay home.  We are supposed to have 1"-2"/hour at times, and 5"-10" accumulating before 7 a.m.  Maybe I'll stay home and try to get the caps in place.

The next question would be whether to put this device into the Victor R-35 cabinet that I got for free a while back, or make a smaller cabinet for it.  But that's getting ahead of things.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

Try cutting a patch using the bottom (umpleated) part of the coffee filter.  Make the patch about three times as big as the injury.  Use service cement to glom the patch to the speaker cone.  Glue the back side of the speaker (where the injury is) after the glue on the patch has dried.  This makes the repair more rigid.  Then you can spray bomb the whole speaker cone black and nobody will know the difference 100 years from now.  Or just leave it unpainted.  Nobody will see it.  Suit yourself on that.  I have done it both ways. 


I believe it would be a nice gesture if you could somehow mate the Philco chassis with the cabinet you found for free.  Good luck.   

[TC Chris]

The mating part is an absolute no-brainer.  The Philco console had a mahogany plywood faceplate that held the dial glass.  That fills the empty space where the radio chassis sat in the Victor cabinet.  The original speaker mounting board fills the speaker space. 

One problem is my memory.  It's actually a Victor R-52 (cabinet model changes the number).  See it here:  http://www.victor-victrola.com/R-52.htm

I've also got a big RE-45, one of the first real consoles.  See that here: https://www.radiolaguy.com/Showcase/Console/RCA%20RE-45.htm.  It was also a freebie, a curbside find.  I have refinished the cabinet but haven't tackled the electronics.  The amp/power supply chassis has a big voltage dropping resistor with several sections burned out, so I suspect that the filter caps must have shorted.  This is a 1929 device so it's early AC-powered, with huge filters.

Chris Campbell